Greek and Esperanto Dvorak layouts for X-Windows (xorg)

Greek Dvorak layout for X-Windows

The normal Greek layout is based on the Qwerty layout, and since I use Dvorak layout this is very confusing. I resolved to find a Greek dvorak layout, but the only one I found wasn't working, for some reason I didn't care to investigate.

So I made my own, by making a copy of the normal Greek layout and then looking up all characters in the Dvorak layout. Instead of putting the tone/accent under colon/semicolon I decided to put it under q, so that the colon/semicolon can be at its normal place. Since these two keys are next to each other in Dvorak it doesn't make much difference anyway. The rest of the layout is just the dvorak layout with phonetically similar Greek characters, in such a way as to correspond with the usual Greek layout: (make sure to view page in UTF-8 encoding to view this)

' , . π υ φ γ ψ ρ λ / =
 α ο ε θ ι δ η τ ν σ -
  ; 'ξ κ χ β μ ς ω ζ

To use this layout put the file linked below in /etc/X11/xkb/symbols/ and add a line to /etc/X11/xkb/rules/xfree86.lst (or xorg.lst) describing it:

el_dv	Greek (Dvorak)

Lastly, add it to the X-Windows configuration file. Locate the keyboard section in /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 (or Xorg.conf) and change it into the following:

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Generic Keyboard"
        Driver          "keyboard"
        Option          "CoreKeyboard"
        Option          "XkbRules"      "xfree86"
        Option          "XkbModel"      "pc104"
        Option          "XkbLayout"     "dvorak,el_dv"
        Option          "XkbOptions"    "grp:alt_shift_toggle,grp_led:scroll"
EndSection

This allows you to switch between normal Dvorak and Greek Dvorak with the Alt-Shift (the left ones), and will indicate the Greek layout being in use with the scroll-lock led.

Be sure not to use the Gnome keyboard layout configuration, as it will interfere with the X-Windows layout. Removing all layouts from the Gnome keyboard layout will disable Gnome's keyboard layout configuration. The keyboard layout indicator applet will still function, with this configuration.

Esperanto Dvorak layout for X-Windows

After similar experiences with trying to find a way to type Esperanto characters, I again resolved to forge my own layout. This layout can be used as your default layout, as it only adds the accented Esperanto characters as "third level" keys. This means you can type ĵ by holding the right winkey and pressing j. For capital letters note that Shift needs to be pressed first, followed by the right winkey and the letter. The following extra characters can be rendered with this layout:

ĝĉŭĥŝĵ
ĜĈŬĤŜĴ

To use this layout put the file linked below in /etc/X11/xkb/symbols/ and add a line to /etc/X11/xkb/rules/xfree86.lst (or xorg.lst) describing it:

epo_dv	Esperanto (Dvorak)

Then find the XkbLayout variable in your xorg.conf file, and change it accordingly:

        option          "XkbLayout"     "epo_dv"

UPDATE: The xkb method didn't work in FreeBSD and my multi-seated Ubuntu, so I searched for a different solution. I discovered that the "xmodmap" utility is generally easier than the xkb method, as it doesn't require modifying system files. Simply add the command "xmodmap .xmodmap" to your X session file, and put the file ".xmodmap" in your home directory. Since I acquired an IBM Model M keyboard (which I bought for 3 euros on a Queensday flea market BTW!), I now no longer have Windows (TM) keys, so I remapped Capslock to the third level chooser key. So capslock-s produces ŝ.